Voodoo Rays are an east London four-piece band, working in a liminal space between psych and dance music. Originally aiming to fuse early Floyd with Sonic Youth, the band have slowly moved towards techno and DnB influences.

 

Originally called Parade, the band was formed by Frank Elliott in late 2009 after working for a few years as a conceptual artist in London. Featuring Canadian drummer Graham Hadley and veteran punk bassist Andy Symes from Leyton, the band have been refining and developing their sound since 2010's Descension, a record with a low-fi sound shrouding a suite of mercurial, dynamic songs about love, jealousy and hope. Since then, in between a series of explosive gigs in London and around the country- as far afield as Manchester, Oxford and Bristol- they have worked hard to learn how best to shape sound to reach out clearly, the better to grab the listener's attention. Firm believers in controlling the entire process from first sketch to finished master, the band's self-reliance has continued to reap dividends, with their third album, Surrounded By Ghosts the first to accurately capture their intense, powerful live performances onto disc.

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Fourth member, Angelo Campagna joined at the beginning of 2018, bringing a love of digital keyboards and Gibson guitars with him- broadening the sound whilst also increasing the band's unpredictability.

 

With a series of carefully thought-out strategies- keeping first takes wherever possible, maintaining the integrity of the performance, avoiding the over-production prevalent at the moment and making sure that the room itself is fifth instrument- the Rays are determined to keep trying to capture their raw, cathartic vision whilst moving towards an increasingly visionary, organic power. Great as the new album is, it certainly won't be the last from these east London mavens. They are good; they will be better.

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Remaining true to their underground ideals whilst playing increasingly high profile concerts around the country, the Rays are intent on finding new ways to challenge and articulate the chaos and catharsis around them.